In the final instalment of our series focusing on the women leaders at WeForest Zambia, our spotlight turns to Ing’utu Simasiku, our Forest Advisor and Leah Banda Project Manager of Copperbelt.
They are both technical experts who believe that it is just as important to have mud from the field on their boots as degrees on their walls. As Zambia expands its engagement in global climate frameworks and green investment, the demand for leaders who have actually managed a forest on the ground is essential. That’s where both these women fit in; their work not only restores the landscape they work in, but also simultaneously improves the lives of the people around them.
To find out more, read their interviews:
"A true career in conservation is rarely a straight line."
Few embody this better than Ing’utu Simasiku, whose journey from Forestry Technician in 1998 to a leading Forestry Advisor today reads like a map of Zambia’s own environmental evolution.
“You must never despise the days of small beginnings,” Ing’utu reflects, recalling her start at the Zambia Forestry College. For her, a diploma was not just an education, but a key. It unlocked her early role as a Forestry Technician during the pivotal era of forest demarcation. “My focus was simple: be the person who gets the job done. In a field dominated by men, I learned that trust was my most powerful tool: trust from the communities we worked with, and trust from my supervisors. It was a practical education you cannot get from a book.”
That foundation of trust became the bedrock for everything that followed. Ing’utu’s career blossomed into a series of grassroots projects that connected ecological health directly to human well-being. She established orchards in over 25 schools, introduced oyster mushroom cultivation to boost household nutrition, and helped over 500 beekeepers build sustainable livelihoods. “Action research,” she calls it. “You work with communities, not for them. You learn about native tubers like Muumbu and Busala from them, and together you find ways to add value. This is where real, lasting change is planted.”
Her academic pursuits, culminating in a Master’s in International Rural Development, were always in conversation with this fieldwork. They were inspired, she says, by her role models: pioneering “iron ladies” in forestry like Professor Gillian Kabwe from the Copperbelt University and the late Anna Chileshe Masinja, a pioneer in Zambia forestry. “They showed me that a woman’s place was not just in the field, but in the halls of influence.”
That lesson culminated in her most significant contribution: leading the technical team that developed Zambia’s REDD+ Safeguards Information System. Here, her decades of dirt-under-the-fingernails experience became her greatest authority. “The challenge was to ensure the system was not just an academic exercise,” she explains. “It had to have clear, measurable targets for community participation. My role was to translate lived reality into policy, so that climate finance could actually reach the people on the ground protecting the forests.”
Today, as a Forestry Advisor for WeForest, Ing’utu sees her unique value as that of a translator. “My success,” she says, “is because I can speak three essential languages. The language of the field: what truly works for soil and soul. The language of policy: how to craft legislation that is both sound and actionable. And the language of development: how to structure sustainable investment. When you can move between these worlds, you can build bridges that last.”
A Final Word for the Next Generation
For those embarking on their own journey, Ing’utu’s advice is rooted in the patience her career exemplifies.
“You are the bridging generation,” she says. “You hold the history of paper maps and the future of satellite data in your hands. That perspective is your power.” She speaks of impact at every step: the profound local joy of a fruiting orchard, the quiet pride in national policy you’ve shaped, the global responsibility of steering international funds.
“The world is now desperate for a specific kind of wisdom,” she concludes. “It needs people who have both degrees on the wall and the mud of the field on their boots. Your long-term, practical knowledge is an essential asset, not only for you but for your country. Nurture it, and let it guide the green future you are building.”
"For conservation to be truly inclusive, it cannot simply invite women to the table; it must build the table with them in mind."
For Project Manager, Leah Banda, the seed of her life’s work was planted on her family’s farm, where the connection between land, trees, and community was the lesson of every season.
Today, from her base in Mpongwe in Zambia, Leah oversees the restoration of a different kind of growth: WeForest’s Copperbelt project, spanning three districts. She leads a team of eight and works closely with government bodies, managing both landscapes and the human networks that sustain them. Yet, to understand her commitment, you must also look at her family.
Her compass was forged by her late aunt, Professor Drinah Banda Nyirenda, a force in agricultural and forest conservation. To her, she was a professional inspiration. She embodied the fusion of compassion with unyielding strength. “She showed me that these two forces must coexist in decision-making,” Leah shares, a principle that now shapes her daily leadership, reminding her that true resilience is rooted in empathy.
Her advice for the next generation of women in the field is: “Believe in your abilities and pursue opportunities that allow you to grow, letting your passion for nature guide your path.” She speaks candidly of the challenges, the moments when progress feels invisible and community appreciation seems distant. The antidote, she believes, is a deeper curiosity about the cultural and economic realities that shape people’s relationship with the land. “Understand the soil you’re planting in,” she says, “and surround yourself with people who believe in your growth and ambitions.”
Perhaps most critically, Leah carries a clear vision for how the sector itself must evolve. For conservation to be truly inclusive, she argues, “It cannot simply invite women to the table; it must build the table with them in mind.” This means developing tools tailored to women’s needs, embedding gender-sensitive planning at every stage, and creating environments where women can lead technically and strategically. “Our recruitment must reach for women in the communities we serve,” she insists. “Their expertise is the foundation of lasting success.”
Leah Banda represents a vital link in an essential chain. If veterans like Ing’utu Simasiku represent the deep, established root system of Zambian conservation with wisdom earned through decades of patient work, then Leah represents the vibrant, resilient new growth.
Together, they illustrate a new conservation approach, one that honors the wisdom of the past while cultivating the leadership of the future. In their stories, we see that trajectories can vary, but the commitment to being a role model for other women in Zambia and truly understanding the ground is essential.
